Anas — a pseudonym for a Syrian man in his late twenties — still recalls five days of anxiety he endured earlier this month after several Syrian refugees were dismissed from their jobs in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, amid fighting that erupted in Aleppo between Syrian government forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
“I was counting the days. Every morning, I expected the HR manager to call me in and ask me to leave my job. Thank God that didn’t happen, but the fear was real,” he said.
During those days, Anas stopped going to work as he normally would. He was afraid to leave the house after hearing reports of attacks on Syrians working in the region.
Anas is one of thousands of Syrians who found the Kurdistan Region a safe haven from the ravages of war in their country. Like many others, however, he discovered that the conflict in Syria is not confined to its borders but follows Syrians even into places of refuge.
When fighting broke out in early January between Syrian government factions and the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods of Aleppo — clashes that ended with government forces taking control and the withdrawal of the SDF after about five days — the repercussions quickly spread beyond Syria.
On social media platforms and some local media outlets, incitement campaigns appeared targeting Syrian Arabs working in the Kurdistan Region. These campaigns blamed them for what was happening in Aleppo and were accompanied by calls for boycotts and dismissals.
The wave prompted Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masoud Barzani to intervene publicly. On January 12, he issued a statement calling for “an end to these illegitimate campaigns” and for measures to prevent their recurrence.
Barzani stressed that what Syrians in the region had been subjected to was “unacceptable and inconsistent with the principles and values of the people of Kurdistan,” adding, “It is not permissible to hold innocent individuals accountable for actions they did not commit.”
Unlike Anas, Ahmad Al-Shami — a Syrian refugee who has been working in Erbil since 2019 — describes the incident as “temporary.” He says he did not feel afraid during the recent wave of incitement.
Speaking to Alhurra, Al-Shami added that relations between Syrians and Kurds “were not affected,” and that the region’s institutions acted quickly to contain the situation.
According to statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Iraq hosts more than 341,000 refugees and asylum seekers, with Syrians accounting for more than 90 percent of them. About 85 percent of these live in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, while the remainder reside in the country’s central and southern provinces.
Within the region, 34 percent of Syrian refugees live in nine camps, while 66 percent live in urban areas — most of them in Erbil, followed by Dohuk and then Sulaymaniyah.
Rashid Ali Jan, a member of the Syrian Community Organization in Iraq, confirms that the recent events have left no lasting impact on the lives of Syrians in the region. “After President Masoud Barzani’s statement, all concerns ended,” he said. “Syrians are working safely, and there are no cases of harassment.”
Although the crisis affecting Syrian Arabs in Kurdistan ended quickly, it exposed the fragility of the sense of security felt by a wide segment of refugees — many of whom have come to realize that their situation can change overnight, depending on political and military developments over which they have no control.
Today, Anas has returned to his daily routine. No one is talking anymore about dismissing Syrians, and he has received no threats. Still, the experience has left a mark on many — not only in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, but also in cities and capitals across Turkey, Germany, and Sweden, where incidents of attacks against Syrian refugees have been recorded.
Alhurra
